Avenging Pepper
by jurawks
Summary: [Brilcrist's KaijuBuster Contest Entry] Pepper is comatose. Tony and the other drift-compatible Avengers fight a kaiju that comes back to life. Loki is being Loki. Does not include Hulk and Thor. Rated for language. No Slash.


**NOTE**: For Brilcrist's KaijuBuster AU Contest. Avengers characters in a Pacific Rim universe.

**NOTE 2**: The ooOOoo are page breaks. Yeah. They're awkward. I know. Sorry. :/

**FEAT:** IronJaeger (Tony Stark & Jarvis) ; Dream Eden (Steve Rogers, ?) ; Black Hawk (Natasha R., Clint Barton) ; Nick Fury ; Agent Coulson (he didn't die!)

ooOOoo

She was beautiful. Standing in the sea, dressed in blue-green waves, hair like foam, shining under the sun. She smiled at him, radiant, peaceful. For once, in a long, long time, he lost his words. A smart joke, a nifty pick-up line, something, nothing. Funny how his stomach turned and his words came to a stall when he looked at her. And he loved her. He loved her like she was an extension of him, the side of him he could never be, the part of him the rest of the world never saw. Tony Stark, billionaire, playboy, genius engineer. Arrogant to the ends of the universe and back. Incapable of anything more than his sterling reputation and his phallic tower in the sky.

And then there was Pepper.

"Sir."

Pepper, his white goddess, dressed in blue-green waves, hair like foam. A mind as sharp as his, gifted in manoeuvring around him, manoeuvring _him_. She had all the right words to say at all the right times. She could shut him up the way no one could, turn his words against him, turn his heart towards her. Oh, she was everything right with the world.

"Sir?"

But her mind was as good as dead now. Her heart barely beating. Her words nonexistent. She was everything wrong with the world.

"Sir?"

Tony jolted up. "What?"

"Sir, Director Fury has-"

"What's that sound?" Tony groaned, words garbled. His vision swam to focus.

"Those are the alarm bells, sir." Ah, Jarvis. "A level three kaiju has been spotted- Sir, you're drunk."

"I'm never drunk, Jarvis," Tony replied, pulling himself to his feet, tripped on a glass bottle, crashed to the steel-hard floor.

"Your heart rate, brainwaves and physical impairment determine otherwise, sir."

Tony felt arms lifting him up into the chair he'd just vacated, watched suspiciously as Jarvis unhooked a canister from his belt and held it towards him.

"Sir, this should help."

Tony reached for it, held it to his lips, eyed Jarvis again. "What is it?" he said, before downing a huge gulp.

"WHOA WHOA WOW!" Tony exclaimed, jerking in the chair as the burning liquid spread through his veins, his entire body and mind suddenly awake. He blinked rapidly, the world exploding on his retina like 1440p high-definition 3D.

"That, sir," Jarvis said calmly, "was caffeine."

"The bells are fucking loud, ain't it," Tony replied, wincing.

"Yes, sir, and Director Fury requires-"

"I know, I know," Tony snapped irritably.

He turned to the still woman lying by his side, hooked up to machines that spelled out her life in electrical lines. _No change since last night_. He turned grim, patted her unresponsive hand and said lowly, "Be back soon, Pepper."

ooOOoo

"WHERE THE HELL IS-"

"Right here, Nick," Tony interrupted, walking onto deck fully dressed in combat gear. Behind him, Jarvis calmly surveyed the deck.

"GOOD," Director Nick Fury snapped, single eye shooting daggers at Tony. "Hook up."

"No briefing?" Tony said.

"Get in the jaeger."

Tony shrugged and stepped into IronJaeger, the giantest mech he'd ever built. Not even his Ironman suits could compare to this monster assembled by Stark Industries' highest grade technology. And the brilliance of Tony Stark himself. He hooked himself into the jaeger, Jarvis doing the same. They systematically pulled levers, pushed buttons, keyed in data, as the motors whirred and the familiar electrical beeping signalled the robot to life.

"Standby for drift," a disembodied Coulson said over the intercom.

"Standby," Tony replied, turning to Jarvis.

"Standby," Jarvis echoed, returning Tony's gaze.

"Don't follow the white rabbit," Tony advised.

Jarvis smirked the way Tony taught him how to.

"Three," Coulson counted over the intercom. "Two, one. Drift."

The snap at the back of Tony's neck pulled his consciousness into the drift stream. Drifting was always the easiest part. Except this time, a white goddess hovered in Tony's memory, dressed in blue-green waves, hair like foam. She smiled. Called his name.

"Sir. Don't follow the white rabbit."

But Tony wanted to. Wanted to, with all of his heart, but he let her slip away. He couldn't visit those memories right now. Not right now.

"Drift compatible," Coulson affirmed.

"Drop 'em," Fury ordered.

The plunging feeling and the pull of gravity was always the worst. Tony fought the first wave of nausea while his stomach remembered that it was still attached to the rest of his body. The intercom cackled as Fury's voice came on, "A level three kaiju spotted, 2 klicks out, North-North-West. IronJaeger and Dream Eden, destroy that kaiju at any cost. Keep that motherfucker dead. Black Hawk, secure the perimeter. Do you copy?"

"Dream Eden copy."

"Black Hawk copy."

"We copy," Tony said.

"Good to see you back in the game, Stark," Steve said.

"Don't do anything stupid," Natasha deadpanned.

"Are you kidding?" Tony scoffed. "We have shit to avenge."_ I have Pepper to avenge._

"That's what I like to hear," Steve laughed, all optimism and sunshine.

ooOOoo

"Whoa-oh-oh-oh-ohhh! How the mighty fall!" Tony sang (shouted?) aloud.

"Sir, we are one klick out. Shall I turn off the music?"

"Not yet, Jarvis."

"Black Hawk in position," Natasha's voice said over the intercom.

"See anything?" asked Steve.

"Not yet," Clint Barton answered.

"Clearly, because you're on the perimeter," Tony jabbed.

"Stark," Steve warned.

"Just sayin'."

ooOOoo

"Can I kick his ass?" Clint said, turning to Natasha.

"Maybe after this fight," she replied, focused on the data displayed across the screens. "If he comes back alive."

Clint bit his tongue, scanning the horizon, beyond the calculations on the screens. He'd always trusted his vision more than electrical data. After Budapest, he was painfully aware of how electronics could fail. His eyes were the safest.

"Any news on Pepper?" he asked.

"Her condition hasn't improved," Natasha responded.

"You think it's too early for Stark to be back in the game?"

"I know it's too early."

"Then, we do what we have to do."

"Get in, eliminate the threat, get out."

"And haul Stark's ass out of the mess on the way," Clint smiled.

Natasha did not.

ooOOoo

"Dream Eden in position," Steve said over the intercom.

"Copy that," Natasha replied.

"Sir, I'm turning off the music," Jarvis said, pushing a button, instantly plunging the jaeger into complete silence.

"Damn it, Jarvis," Tony hissed, then pushing the intercom button, said, "IronJaeger in position. What's the plan?"

"We'll take point this round," Steve replied. "You take flank. Black Hawk will do what they always do."

"Stay out of the fight?" Tony suggested.

"Shall we remind you of the nine other times we saved your ass?" Natasha said sweetly.

"Whoa hey, are you picking up interference?" Tony diverted. "Coulson, is that-"

"Affirmative," Coulson replied. "Kaiju spotted."

"Here we go," Tony said grimly.

ooOOoo

Watching from afar had always been Clint's favourite past time. He could see everything, patterns and strategies and feigns. He could read the body language of virtually every living thing and inanimate object before they even moved. It was the same thing now. The way the blue flash of light preceded the kaiju's appearance, the way Dream Eden positioned itself, the way IronJaeger discreetly backed away from the potential conflict zone, the way Natasha stiffened, the way the kaiju appeared in the distance, jaws wide and snapping, powerful fins directing it at Dream Eden.

"Nat," he said cautiously, "It knows Dream Eden is just bait. Watch the right fin, it's feeling for Stark."

The wheels clicked and Natasha punched the intercom button, "Stark, get out of position. Kaiju knows you're there."

"What-"

Tony didn't finish his sentence.

ooOOoo

The kaiju smashed headfirst into IronJaeger, its solid tail crashing into Dream Eden and sending it flying out of the sea and into the air. Black Hawk fired its amplified Widow's Bite, shocking the kaiju just long enough for Dream Eden to scramble to its feet. Dream Eden's shield collided with the kaiju, sending it sprawling; Black Hawk's enhanced arrow finding its way into the kaiju's eye socket. The kaiju roared, thrashing in the waves. Dream Eden charged a rocket and fired it into the kaiju. Data fleeted across SHIELD's screens.

"Kaiju's dead," Coulson announced.

IronJaeger remained still.

ooOOoo

"Stark?"

"IronJaeger, do you copy?"

"Stark?"

"Sir?"

ooOOoo

A glint of blue light drew Clint's attention. It was the same blue that had announced the kaiju's arrival. But this time, the blue light surrounded the dead kaiju.

"Nat?" he called.

Natasha looked up from her screens as the kaiju began to jerk, regenerate and pull itself together, growing limbs where there once were fins, growing in size, standing on hind limbs.

"What the hell is going on?" she said.

The blue light increased in intensity and a flash blinded them momentarily. Rolling laughter rang, the same unmistakeable laughter that had haunted Clint Barton for a long time. Monsters and magic.

And gods.

"Loki," Natasha whispered.

ooOOoo

"Sir, the readings indicate that it is indeed Loki," Jarvis said, gently shaking Tony.

Tony shook his head, made strange sounds with his mouth and blinked at the screens. He could feel the familiar stickiness of blood. _Pepper's gonna kill me- Pepper. Loki._

He didn't hear Jarvis, didn't hear Coulson and Fury and Rogers and Romanoff on the intercom. He only heard the rushing wave of rage and then IronJaeger was running headlong towards the kaiju, firing sonic blasts and repulsor rays, trigger-happy. The sound of engines and mechanical bearings sounded like music to Tony as he pummelled the kaiju, eyes fixed on the sceptre-wielding god and his ridiculous golden horns. He could see Loki laughing like a maniac, riding the kaiju like a horse, sceptre of atrocities held high in victory, and Tony could only remember how Loki had done the same thing when Pepper came to IronJaeger's rescue, in her battle suit. Tony could remember, through a haze of alcohol intoxication and rage and despair, how Pepper had engaged Loki in battle and how she'd drawn his attention long enough for Steve to save his and Jarvis' life, at the expense of her own. He remembered that gut-wrenching feeling when he watched her fall out of the sky, shot down by Loki's sceptre, he remembered holding her as she bled out in his arms, he remembered the hollow pit in his stomach when the doctors told him she was comatose and they didn't know if she'd ever wake. He remembered the white rabbit in the drift stream-a goddess clad in blue-green waves and hair like foam.

The blast from Loki's sceptre threw the jaeger into the air. Tony's head jerked with the backlash but he wouldn't stop as he brought the jaeger back into a clash with Loki. Except this time, Dream Eden and Black Hawk were engaging in battle too. But every one step forward they made, Loki pushed them three steps back. Tony could feel the toil in his arms, his legs, his back.

"He's not going down," Steve said over the intercom, breathing heavily.

"He's protected by an electromagnetic field," Natasha reported. "We can't get to him if we don't break that down."

Then it clicked.

"Legolas," Tony said. "How many arrows can you fire within five seconds?"

"Three," Clint replied. "Four if I'm lucky and Loki doesn't move."

"Do that. Use whatever you have to put him down. I'll release an EMP bolt; that should disable his electromagnetic shield long enough for you to put a few arrows in him. Cap, I need you to hold him, keep his attention on you."

"Roger that."

ooOOoo

It felt like the world stopped as Dream Eden tussled with the kaiju and Loki. Tony charged up the EMP gauge, Jarvis locked the target, and a push of the button fired the EMP bolt at the puny god of nowhere.

"Now!" Tony bellowed.

He didn't need to. Black Hawk had fired three arrows consecutively.

There was a flash of blue and a demented scream that sounded vaguely like Loki, and then...

Silence.

"He's gone," Natasha said.

"We won," Steve breathed.

Tony stared at the spot where there was once a kaiju and the god he hated the most, willing for him to come back so that he could have one more chance to fire a rocket through his head. But there was only smoke and the sea was calm again.

Fury's voice jarred him out of his reverie, "Mission accomplished, jaegers. Come back in."

ooOOoo

Tony sat by Pepper's side, watched her barely-there breathing and rested his hand over hers.

"We got him today," he said softly.

She didn't stir. The beeps and lines from the machines didn't change.

"He'll be back. Loki. And the next time he does, I will destroy him."

He looked at her, wondered at the smooth curve of her jaw line, bent over and laid a gentle kiss on her lips. Nothing changed. She didn't wake up the way Disney princesses did. Tony didn't know if she ever would.

ooOOoo

**THE END**


End file.
